1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to plumbing and, specifically, to sink plumbing connections.
2. Description of the Art
Plumbing connections to sinks in buildings, homes, etc., have essentially been standardized. Hot and cold pipes connected at one end to tees or elbows in the main hot and cold water pipes of a building are connected to vertical pipes which extend through holes in the base of the frame stud wall to the sink fitting connection height. Elbows or tees are mounted on the ends of the vertical pipes and another short pipe or stub is connected to each fitting and extends outward beyond the outer surface of a wall panel or surface to be mounted on the vertical wall studs, such as a sheet of drywall, etc. A short vertical extension pipe extends from each tee fitting and is capped off to form an air cushion to prevent water hammering within the pipes. A drain pipe, typically formed of a large diameter PVC pipe, is connected at one end to the building drain pipe by an elbow or tee and extends through to a hole in the wall base stud to another fitting to which a horizontal pipe extension is mounted for connection to the sink drain pipe.
While the sink plumbing connections are fairly standard, hookup is time consuming due to the large number of separate connections. Further, all such sink connections must be completed before the drywall or plaster can be installed over the wall studs.
A number of prefab housings and modules have been devised to simplify plumbing connections to washers and dryers, showers, etc. However, such prefabricated fixtures have not been of an optimum design from low cost, and easy, quick installation viewpoints.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a prefabricated sink fixture apparatus which has a low manufacturing cost, easy and quick installation while providing all the connections necessary to mount a sink in a bathroom of a building, home, etc.